Got banned from Amazon?

How can I get Unbanned?

The 10 Little Secrets to getting your Amazon account back online and keeping it. After being unfairly banned for life and loosing several accounts in attempt to resurrect our account we have learned the secret to reopening and successfully operating your "banned" amazon account.

10 Secrets to Getting Unbanned - $19.99

GET YOUR SELLER ACCOUNT BACK!

We built a million dollar empire through Amazon and entrusted them with our livelihood. We had impeccable feedback and unmatched customer service until we were faced with a well known competitor who decided to order place orders and leave negative feedback. Within a month everything we worked so hard to create was destroyed. No mater our efforts we were banished from selling on Amazon indefinitely. We spent the next several months and thousands of dollars making over 11 failed attempts to reinstate our account, create a new one and use other peoples account (which eventually got banned as well). In a last attempt to beg Amazon for forgiveness we were befriended by longtime Amazon employee gone rogue. It wasn't long before we had all the intel necessary to get our account back up and running and now we are sharing that intel with you.

I have been using Amazon SellerCentral for over 2 years without a hitch. I had an absolutely impeccable selling history and 98+% feedback rating with over $1,376,000 in sales and a loyal return customer base.

In September of 2008 a competitor on Amazon began undercutting every item in our store front, infringing on trade and brandmark rights and destroying the minimum advertised price (MAP) set by the manufacturer for every product in his inventory. The manufacturer (undisclosed) was overwhelmed by the policies set forth by Amazon for protection of his brand and was unsuccessful in securing his products, sales policies and pricing on Amazon.

In October 2008 our competitor decided to place multiple orders on multiple user accounts and proceeded to leave negative feedback, some within hours after placing the order. Each claim was met with verified tracking and customer service records that shown immediate action on every customer inquiry. None of the rebuttals were accepted by Amazons team and resulted in immediate refunds.

The tremendous loss from refunds as well as our rapidly declining feedback rating destroyed what was left of our account and crushed our sales. Not more than a day later an account suspension warning letter was sent to our email that reads as follows:

We are writing to let you know that your listings have been suspended and are currently unavailable for sale. The feedback, claims, and/or refunds submitted to your seller account profile indicate that a number of buyers have been dissatisfied with the service you have provided.

You can view our Seller Performance Targets in Seller Central at the following location:

We encourage you to review your processes in order to identify any operational deficiencies that may have contributed to increased negative feedback, guarantee claims or returns submitted by your transaction partners. In order to reinstate your listings, please write to seller-performance@amazon.com and provide a detailed account of the steps you will undertake to bring your performance up to our standards.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Our rebuttal was over 5 pages long, detailing every transaction including time stamped customer service inquiries and responses, order tracking information and viable product information that was more than sufficient to expunge our record of these baseless claims. We included our sections of our internal process and procedural manual that highlighted what corrective actions we would take to reduce claims and increase positive customer feedback. After 2 days of painstaking order and customer service audits this was the response we received form Amazon.

In our review of your seller account history, you have already received notification regarding the actions taken on your account. According to that e-mail message, your account has been blocked because The feedback, claims, and/or refunds submitted to your seller account profile indicate that a number of buyers have been dissatisfied with the service you have provided.

This action was taken by our Seller Performance department, which conducts order and account investigations. All actions and concerns regarding your account must be communicated via e-mail for our records. If you wish to appeal this decision, you may do so by writing to seller-performance@amazon.com.

To ensure that the Seller Performance department has all the information they need to conduct a thorough review of your appeal, please include the following information in your e-mail to seller-performance@amazon.com:

1. The root cause of (Order Defect Rate).2. What actions you have taken to remedy the root cause.3. What actions you will take in the future to ensure the issue does not recur, and4. Your plan for evaluating the success of your remedy actions.

The Seller Performance team will review the information you provide and will contact you via e-mail with a final decision.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Since we were unclear why our response was not deemed valid we drafted our response to fit the requested format and 15 days later this is the response we received.

Hello from Amazon.com.

Thank you for writing. We have considered your request for reinstatement and decided that your account will remain blocked.

A seller's negative feedback, refunds and claims reflect a seller's overall performance. High rates of these criteria generally indicate that buyers are experiencing unsatisfactory transactions.

Any remaining funds may be reserved for up to 90 days from the date of your final sale. After 90 days, the funds will be disbursed, provided we do not receive charge-backs or A-to-z Guarantee claims against your sales. If you have further questions about your disbursement, please email payments-funds@amazon.com.

While we appreciate your interest, please understand that the closure of an account is a permanent action. Any subsequent accounts that are opened will be closed as well.

Thank you for your understanding with our decision.

Best regards,

Seller Performance Teamhttp://www.amazon.com

When I called Amazon we were given no response and offered no assistance. For most Amazon sellers that have been banned this would be the end of the line, but I just couldn't take no for an answer.

I began collecting every piece of intel and interrogating representatives. Over 2 months I had befriended a network that divulged the inner workings of Amazon's compliance department. I was eventually given information on my account and told that the user whom left us feedback was a repeat offender having been linked to several banned Amazon accounts.

But how could this be possible?How could you set up a new account once you have been banned from Amazon?

During the past 6 months I made 11 failed attempts to create new accounts doing everything in the book to make a permanently separate my old account. I spent thousands of dollars in new computer equipment, IT services, bank account changes, credit card reissues and various other techniques that ultimately failed and left me for broke. What I found in this process is 10 simple rules that can help you reestablish your account and get you back selling on Amazon.

So the $19 question is... How much is it worth to reinstate your selling privileges on Amazon again?

I was a seller on Amazon.com Marketplace when my seller account was abruptly closed. I had accumulated $805 through my sales, but Amazon is holding that money in 'reserve' supposedly until I provide sufficient evidence that I shipped all my orders. (or for 90 days, whichever comes first) Well, I provided a deatiled e-mail with the order numbers as well as delivery confirmation numbers and Amazon.com will not respond back to me. I've done what they asked me to do by providing delivery confirmation numbers for all sales that took place in the last 2 weeks, but they are ignoring my request to release the $805 that I earned. I have had no complaints from customers I sold to and a positive feedback rating of 100%. There is NO reason in the world why Amazon should be entitled to hold my money! I feel that they hold funds and collect interest from the seller's profits for their own financial gain. This type of thing is wrong! They won't even respond to my e-mails and I'm sure they have every intention of holding my $805 even though I have provided them with what they asked for in the way of delivery confirmation numbers to the people who bought my products.

I just recently set up a sellers account on amazon. They randomly suspended my account after it not being open for more than 2 hours, stating that my account is related to an account which has been previously blocked for violations of their policies. I have asked them what is going on, why I am blocked, how they can relate me to someone elses account, and that I think I deserve details on this. Funny thing is, I have never sold on Amazon before. Amazon however REFUSES to provide detailed information, much less ANY information on how they linked my account to someone elses blocked account. They will only say they have "significant evidence" my account is related to a previously blocked account. Well, what evidence do they have and to whos account?? I do not understand this. I think it is completely unfair to block me for something I am not responsible for. Also, you cannnot reach headquarters by phone, nor can you reach the Amazon sellers support by phone. This is complete bullsh**!!

i was a seller on amazon. i went to check my orders, when i had a email saying my account was suspended. they said it was linked to another account that was suspended. i do not have nor have i had a account that has been suspended.

i called customer service. they said to email the performance team. i did they responded saying if i emailed them again they would not reply. so i called the corporate office only to be connected to a answering machine. left message but never got a reply. so i wrote 3 letters to the corporate office. and again no reply. i had a good seller rating.

so i tried before posting here. as you can see amazon does not seam to care about there sellers or buyers. and these are the ones who put them where they are at. without them then they would be no amazon.

they would not even let me download my invetory list.

seams no one checks behind there emploies as if they did. then they would answer your emails instead of just deleating them, or just erase your message off the answering machine. maybe they just connect you to one that does not even record your message you just think it doesbruce

The purpose of this thread is to keep all past and present Amazon Customers informed of recent changes within Amazon. This thread will also serve as a place for those who have been blacklisted to update and support each other. It is intended for anyone who has found this forum by search engine or other means. This thread is one of the top 10 search returns by Google.

Those who were affected by the blacklisting at first thought they had received a spam or phishing email. However, once other people confirmed that they had also received the same discourteous email and were no longer able to login to their Amazon accounts, all were certain that this blacklisting was for real.

In addition, Amazon has refuses to issue refunds on any Blacklisted Accounts for:(8) Gift cards.(9) The time left on Amazon Prime membership.

The blacklisted can no longer:(10) Download books exclusive to Amazon for their Amazon exclusive Kindle.(11) Access, view, or download any digital content found in their Digital Media Library even though the member has already paid for said content.(12) Use Amazon Visa rewards.

And lasty, any pre-orders or orders placed while the account was being closed were cancelled.

To make matters worse, any subsequent accounts created by a blacklisted member will also be instantly banned. It is not known how Amazon links accounts to the blacklisted. It is speculated that Amazon links banned accounts by billing address. In addition, if a blacklisted member were able to place a order with Amazon, Amazon will not accept the return of that order. In other words, a blacklisting is lifelong and permanent. The following quote is taken from the email that Amazon sent to its members.

Quote :

If you were to open a new account, the same will result and it will also be closed. In the event that you attempt to do so, we will not accept the return of any additional orders, nor will we issue further refunds in connection with any future orders. We appreciate your cooperation in refraining from using our web site.

Amazon refuses to reinstate most accounts. If a member sends an email to the account appeals email address, Amazon will reply with the following generic reply.http://forums.slickdeals.net/show...tcount=455. In rare circumstances, Amazon can reopen a closed account but they threaten to re-close the account if any additional "concession requests" are made.

[b] Reaction To The Blacklisting: The majority of customers - blacklisted and not blacklisted - believe Amazon did not handle this matter properly. Amazon has failed to define what is and is not considered "an extraordinary number of incidents." Amazon has also failed to define what is and is not a "concession incident." Customers speculate that a concession incident could by any one or more of the following: (1) Coupons, (2) full returns, (3) partial returns, (4) full refunds, (5) partial refunds, (6) A to Z claims, (7) post order price Guarantees, (8) Visa Rewards, (9) refusing shipments, (10) returning defective items, (11) cancelling orders, and so on.

A concession incident is essentially an action that causes Amazon to make less than the maximum amount of profit per transaction.

Most people also agree that Amazon should have defined what is and is not considered "an extraordinary number of incidents." But most importantly, Amazon should have sent an email to the members in question stating that their account would be closed if they continued to request too many "concessions."

The former customers are very much upset with Amazon because Amazon did not provide any notification of any kind that their accounts were in poor standing according to Amazon's unpublished internal policies. Amazon's former customers are also upset that Amazon is refusing to allow them to continue to shop at their webstore even if they were to no longer request any concessions.

Many customers believe that this unexpected blacklisting is an attempt by Amazon to implement stricter return policies. However, Amazon does not want to make any official changes to their terms of service regarding return policies. Amazon is trying to perpetuate the illusion that "returns are easy" at Amazon.

Amazon's Discourteous Email Explained In Terms Of Psychology

Quote :

Amazon’s secretive internal "concession incident" policy is not explicitly stated in their terms of service. This allows Amazon to perpetuate the view that concession incidents are not tabulated and will not be used against the customer. This is misleading.

Amazon's unanticipated blacklisting has brought about their desired result. The rates of requested concession incidents have probably lowered across all of Amazon’s customer databases thanks to social forums like this one. The word has gotten out. We are the unofficial spokespersons for Amazon's new policy. Amazon is broadcasting its new policies by proxy, i.e., through us.

Amazon orchestrated a psychological attack against a minority of its customers. This unexpected blacklisting has had a chilling effect. Current customers can't determine if another blacklisting will ever occur. Thus, many will do whatever it takes to not upset the powerful and unforgiving Amazon. When you're blacklisted from Amazon, you're blacklisted from Amazon Marketplace. Not being allowed to shop at Amazon Marketplace has been a big loss and disappointment for me.

The Lessons Learned From This Unexpected Blacklisting:

All Amazon customers must be well aware of the terms of service they agree to whenever they use any Amazon service. Amazon customers must be aware the submitting an above average number of concession requests will result in their permanent closure of their account.

For instance, in regards to the Kindle.Amazon can:(1) "Discontinue wireless connectivity at any time"(2) "Reserve the right to modify, suspend, or discontinue the [Kindle] Service at any time" while not being held "liable to you, [the Kindle owner] should it [Amazon] exercise such right."This policy can be viewed by clicking on the following link. Press control F on your keyboard to find the quoted text more quickly.http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/cus...=200144530

Unbox Content:BoingBoing describes the contract as the worst they have ever seen. There are simply too many things wrong with the contract to mention here. Click on the link the follows to read a point by point analysis of the terms you agree to follow once you purchase Unbox content.

Digital Media Library:Whenever you purchase digital items through Amazon, you are not purchasing the content itself. You are only paying for access to view the content itself. Becuase Amazon cancels accounts and has the tendency to not reopen them, everyone should purchase access to Amazon's digital content with great caution.

It has even been discussed on Amazon's own Gold Box forum. The blacklisting of its own customers made quite a stir at the Amazon forums but Amazon has since removed most of the threads that pertain to the blacklisting. Some threads remain however.

I just got an email from amazon.com telling me that I am no longer welcome to use their site and that my account has been closed with immediate effect. The reason, they say, is that I've had too many problems with shipments. I confess that over the past few years I've returned far too many apple computers than is normal, but most of the time I've first been to Apple who've told me that I can either have it fixed or return it to amazon and recommended the latter.

I've also bought tons and tons of expensive stuff from them over the years without any issue at all, including cameras, lenses, telephones, computers and books.

I'm really really outraged because I also have lots of amazon credit that I got by using my amazon.com credit card AND all my receipts are on my account so that I have no way of proving purchases anymore. I can't even log on!

Needed to vent. I really can't believe that they would penalise me for using their return policy. If they can't handle that people return defective products, they shouldn't have that policy. A lot of stores don't.

Any advice? I don't want to lose my receipts because it'll be hard to get warranty service if I need it. And, of course, I don't want to lose my credit that I have accumulated through my amazon card.